SEASON TO DATE, JAY HAS STRETCHED HIS TOTAL-VIEWER LEAD OVER ‘LATE SHOW’ TO 15 PERCENT FROM THE YEAR-AGO 8 PERCENT AND JIMMY FALLON HAS INCREASED HIS MARGIN OVER ‘LATE LATE SHOW’ TO 15 PERCENT FROM 1 PERCENT

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – May 3, 2012 – NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” has delivered #1 rankings in viewers 18-49 and total viewers for the week of April 9-13, generating bigger audiences in adults 18-49 and total viewers than its time-period competition of CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” and ABC’s combination of “Nightline” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Jay topped “Late Show” by a 13 percent margin in 18-49 viewers, his biggest advantage over a week of “Late Show” originals since December 19-23, 2011.

At 12:35 a.m. ET, NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” ranked #1 ahead of CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and head to head versus ABC’s “Kimmel” in viewers 18-49 and total viewers. Boosted by Tuesday’s telecast featuring an appearance by President Obama, Jimmy delivered his biggest weekly 18-49 audience in eight weeks (since February 27-March 2) and biggest overall audience in nine weeks (since February 20-24).

Note that Monday’s “Late Night” and Friday’s “Last Call” and “Kimmel” were encores, as were the Monday through Wednesday editions of “Late Late Show.”

On Tuesday, Jimmy Fallon delivered his biggest 18-49 audience for a regular episode so far this season with a special telecast from Chapel Hill, N.C. featuring President Obama, which delivered 853,000 adults 18-49 for a 0.7 rating in that key category. In total viewers, Tuesday’s telecast averaged 2.0 million persons, a 19 percent jump versus the 1.7 million the show has averaged this season in comparable “live plus same day” ratings.

Through the first 32 weeks of the season, “Tonight” has increased its total-viewer margin over “Late Show” to 15 percent (3.719 million vs. 3.228 million), up from the year-ago season-to-date advantage of 8 percent. Jimmy Fallon has also established a total-viewer lead over “Late Late Show” this season of 15 percent (1.767 million vs. 1.533 million), up from last year’s advantage of 1 percent. Jimmy has also increased his season-to-date lead over “Late Late Show” in adults 18-34, to 39 percent (276,000 vs. 198,000) up from last year’s 23 percent, and in adults 25-54, to 11 percent (867,000 vs. 784,000) up from 2 percent at this point last season.

“Tonight” delivered a bigger 18-49 audience than “Late Show” for the 16th time in 19 weeks while Jimmy Fallon attracted a bigger 18-49 audience than “Late Late Show” for a 22nd week in a row.

WEEKLY AVERAGES(According to in-home viewing figures from Nielsen Media Research for the week of April 23-27. Ratings reflect “live plus same day” data from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise noted. Season-to-date figures are averages of “live plus seven day” data except for the two most recent weeks, which are “live plus same day.”)